DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 (edited) On a Czechia power play: Kulich backchecks from the far side after the puck gets past the point man. Two-on-one with Kulich in pursuit, not backing up. Not even a shot on goal. Great play. Fans on a one timer, then hits the side of the net on the next one-timer setup. Edited January 2, 2023 by DarthEbriate 1 Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 A few shifts later... Kulich takes a gift turnover, super weak pass, feeds Sale and drives toward the middle of the ice. Sale takes the open ice and buries a wicked googly shot. Kulich takeaway and assist. Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 Kulich is the intermission interview. That's a sweet sweater. The lion pattern woven into the white portion of the jersey. Nice threads, Jiri! Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 Yeesh. Czechia now with 9 goals on 21 shots. Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 Kulich delays to open the passing lane, then a great burst of speed... and skies the centering pass. Misses the open net entirely. No hattie yet. Bit of a rolling puck on replay. Kulich seems to coast/glide a lot off puck (in contrast to Östlund earlier today who is always motoring). But when he wants to go, he's got great speed. And he goes to the net fast. Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 (edited) Kulich one-on-one vs the goalie misses the net again. No hats. Ends with only 4 points. Edited January 2, 2023 by DarthEbriate 4 Quote
steveoath Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 Good grief, Germany are looking weak. Quote
Norcal Posted January 2, 2023 Report Posted January 2, 2023 1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said: Kulich one-on-one vs the goalie misses the net again. No hats. Ends with only 4 points. Thanks for the play by play. Missed this one on vacation w the kids n grandkids. 1 Quote
LGR4GM Posted January 3, 2023 Author Report Posted January 3, 2023 Trying to distract myself. Here's Bedard in OT 2 1 Quote
PerreaultForever Posted January 3, 2023 Report Posted January 3, 2023 8 hours ago, DarthEbriate said: Kulich seems to coast/glide a lot off puck (in contrast to Östlund earlier today who is always motoring). But when he wants to go, he's got great speed. And he goes to the net fast. I've noticed this too. I like Kulich, but I don't like this aspect of his game. he does seem to coast from time to time and let others do the dirty work. Hopefully that can be coached out of him and it's not a character trait. Otherwise he shows great promise. Quote
French Collection Posted January 3, 2023 Report Posted January 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, steveoath said: Are there any games on today? No semis until tomorrow Quote
steveoath Posted January 3, 2023 Report Posted January 3, 2023 Ace. That's my birthday viewing sorted! Quote
LTS Posted January 3, 2023 Report Posted January 3, 2023 16 hours ago, PerreaultForever said: I've noticed this too. I like Kulich, but I don't like this aspect of his game. he does seem to coast from time to time and let others do the dirty work. Hopefully that can be coached out of him and it's not a character trait. Otherwise he shows great promise. I've read it less as coasting and more that the Czech game appears to focus on him finding the soft spot in the opponent D to get shots off from. At least in the offensive zone it seems that he's not tabbed with mucking up the boards but being the target for those who are tasked with that. not always possible, sure, but as soon as Czech players were in the zone it appeared he disengaged to find those spots. Perhaps its indicative that his board play is poor, or its a sign his shot is excellent. Not sure which. I think he'll have to be all over it in the Sweden game though. 1 Quote
PerreaultForever Posted January 3, 2023 Report Posted January 3, 2023 36 minutes ago, LTS said: I've read it less as coasting and more that the Czech game appears to focus on him finding the soft spot in the opponent D to get shots off from. At least in the offensive zone it seems that he's not tabbed with mucking up the boards but being the target for those who are tasked with that. not always possible, sure, but as soon as Czech players were in the zone it appeared he disengaged to find those spots. Perhaps its indicative that his board play is poor, or its a sign his shot is excellent. Not sure which. I think he'll have to be all over it in the Sweden game though. Well that's fair enough. It's hard to tell if that's Czechia strategy or just how he plays. He does have a good shot that's for sure. Potential sniper. He's a VO upgrade and perhaps more. 1 Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said: Well that's fair enough. It's hard to tell if that's Czechia strategy or just how he plays. He does have a good shot that's for sure. Potential sniper. He's a VO upgrade and perhaps more. Agreed. I haven't seen the Amerks beyond highlights so I can't say what his style is there. Czechia certainly didn't need him flying off the handle as a forechecker against Switzerland, that's for sure. He was getting to the right spots for defense and offense, so his sense might just be one of those guys who always seems to be in the right-place, right-time without even looking like he's trying. Those are some of the best guys to have. 1 Quote
dudacek Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 From what I’ve seen of Kulich, he’s never going to be a a face puncher, a distributor or a guy who carries the puck on his string. But his skill set lends itself to pretty much any other role, at centre or at wing, anywhere in the lineup. It will be very interesting to see what role he carves out for himself because he can go in a number of directions. 1 Quote
pi2000 Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 39 minutes ago, dudacek said: From what I’ve seen of Kulich, he’s never going to be a a face puncher, a distributor or a guy who carries the puck on his string. But his skill set lends itself to pretty much any other role, at centre or at wing, anywhere in the lineup. It will be very interesting to see what role he carves out for himself because he can go in a number of directions. His ceiling is Zemgus with a better shot. Quote
Porous Five Hole Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 4 minutes ago, pi2000 said: His ceiling is Zemgus with a better shot. I keep hearing on this board that we need more third or fourth line players who are glue guys and hard to play against. So this is good? Quote
DarthEbriate Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 (edited) Going into Wednesday's semis, Czechia goalie Tomas Suchanek (also Sabres 2022 Prospects Challenge goalie) is tied for 12th in the tourney with 4 assists. An assist with the right results could get him into the top 10. ....he probably can't catch Bedard. Kulich v. Rosen and Östlund. And only one of USA-Canada gets to play for gold. Should be fun, although ESPN+ is not carrying this round which is maddening. Edited January 4, 2023 by DarthEbriate Quote
steveoath Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 I've been finding streams on YouTube fwiw Quote
French Collection Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 Czechia vs Sweden is the first semifinal game today. Czechia has played well. They are a big physical team playing a well rounded game. Suchanek has been good in net and I think their D is better than Sweden’s. Czechia 4 - Sweden 2 is my prediction, Kulich 1G 1A while Östlund gets an A. Canada vs USA. At the start of the tournament many people would have predicted this would be the gold medal game but here we are. The US must control Bedard, he drives the bus for Canada. I don’t trust the goaltending on both sides, this could be a high scoring game. I see a very close game with Canada eking out a win 6-5. Quote
GASabresIUFAN Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 So the Sabres prospect game at 2:30 and the Bedard/ Fantilli show vs the Hughes/Cooley show at 6:30. Quote
French Collection Posted January 4, 2023 Report Posted January 4, 2023 1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said: So the Sabres prospect game at 2:30 and the Bedard/ Fantilli show vs the Hughes/Cooley show at 6:30. I would take Hughes and Cooley before Fantilli. There has been a lot of hype, but I have yet to see him have a good game at the U20 or U18 level. He is young and has a long runway but he is nowhere near Bedard as far as skill goes. This seems like the media wanting someone to challenge Bedard for the #1 slot and Fantilli is next up. At this point in time it looks like a McDavid vs Eichel draft to me. Quote
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